Rating: 
Summary: A good story line, but needs some work
Review: It took me only two days to read this 177 paged book, but I remember what I read, just the same. This was a very, very good story-line (basic idea) and an ingenius format, but I must say that Avi's style of writing needs to be polished a bit. In the conversations--mostly between Philip and whoever he may be conversing with at this point. For instance, instead of placing the word "I" at the beginning of a sentence, Avi would simply leave it out! That gives the idea that "you" did something or said something or whatever the case may be. However, this was a VERY good story line and I am envious of the plot. The format was also very well done
Rating: 
Summary: A great book
Review: A story of how a little disagreement between a teacher and her student
can be twisted by the media and turned into a national scandel. Nicely written.
A story not only teens would love, adults as well.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing but the Truth
Review: Chris Skorusa Nothing but the Truth Reading II Summary Was there ever a day you woke up and thought it was going to be a good day but it wasn't? From That one day your whole week has changed it seamed like it could never get better. Nothing but the Truth is like it. The book is manly about a student named Philip Malloy. Philip is a Freshman at Harrison High. The first couple days of school were fine but there was this one teacher named Mss.Narwin. Philip didn't really like her. He wasn't doing too good in the class either he was getting a "D". With the D he wasn't able to try out for track just because he was failing this class. But it didn't get any better he got a memo telling him that his homeroom is switched to Mss.Narwin. That wasn't the smartest thing putting Phillip and Mss.Narwin together. While Philip was in the class he was suspended for humming to the announcements. With the suspension he has received Philip will be getting a lot of people mad.
Response: I thought this book was very interesting there was always something going wrong. I can tell that the author of book must have spent a lot of time making this book. The book is written in dialogue from so you always know who is talking. There are also parts where you get to read Philip's diary and really get to know what Philip is thinking and what his emotions are. This book is really good at giving you a mental image of the story. There were some parts of the book that made me mad. Like how mad the teacher got just for humming and that everyone turned on him for not doing anything? But at the end of the book it all makes sense. I would rate this book 8 out of 10. Just because there was some situations that I don't think could really happened in life. But everything else was good.
Rating:
Summary: A very important lesson
Review: I find the title "Nothing but the Truth" to be cleverly ironic, as this book actually demonstrates a minor dispute's descent into a political arena where "Anything but the Truth" would more acurately describe the situation. Some reviewers have claimed that this book is repetative. It is true that readers are presented with information over and over again, but it is never quite the same. The purpose is to show how the story gets twisted each time it's re-told. How the same event comes to be described in two incredibly different ways, neither of which is accurate, depending on what each side has to gain or lose. In the huge mess that's created, no one knows the true story anymore. More importantly, no one cares. That is the heart of the story. The school at first only cares about Phillip disobeying (That's his real crime: disobeying an arbitrary rule. Not humming.) and then only about covering their own butts by making it sound like Phillip deserved his harsh punishment by making up a fake crime so no one will find out that his only 'crime' was refusing to mindlessly conform. Phillip and his parents at first only care about defending him against a tyrannical bureaucracy, but later his father also cares about pumping himself up by making false claims of Phillip's virtue in to counter the false claims of his depravity. Everyone else latches onto one of the false claims, seeing Phillip as saint or sinner. From the beginning, no one cares about the truth.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring Most of the Time
Review: First off let me tell you this is a documentary novel that has documents, notes files, etc. that are sometimes are really boring. The dialogue is in play form, so my calss acted it out. It's hard to follow. But it's funny and if your a teen you can relate somewhat. This was an unrealistic book, as you will see in the following text: Now this book wasn't so bad, but I was reading it with my class. We were acting out the different parts. This made it MUCH easier to follow. Otherwise you'll start to think about whether you left the coffe-pot on or something and have to reread a page. Philip Malloy is a young boy who hums along with the Star Spangeled Banner. His teacher, that he hates for giving bad grades (Which he deserves), sends him to the principal's office for "singing", so she says, the SSB. Philip is a big crybaby about ho he gets bad grades and is kicked off the track team. No one would really send a kid to the Principals Office for humming the SSB. And it wouldn't make national news, which does infact happen. I was wondering what the point was of this book until the last page... which was a funny, yet annoying ending, leaving you feeling unfinished with the story and wanting to look for the next page. There is none, which made me mad. Yet, this book was interesting nonetheless and a quick, easy-read. Check it out at the library BEFORE you buy it... if you even wanna read it again...
Rating:
Summary: This is the best book ever!
Review: Let's say you're a well-known children's author who wants to write a book criticizing the one-sided quick response nature of our media saturated society. And let's say that you'd like to show this nature in the form of a boy and the Star Spangled Banner. Now, there are two ways to go about this. The easy way would be to write a book in which a boy refuses to sing the Star Spangled Banner in class and his silent protestation is blown out of proportion and becomes a major national scandal. There are plenty o' books with this plot, or some mild variation. And while they are all well-intentioned, they're not particularly original. The more difficult method would be the one offered here by Avi. In this book you have a boy who is supposedly punished for singing the national anthem and his self-centered approach to this punishment ruins a whole lotta lives, including his own. Heard that story before? You will.
Philip Malloy is just your typical high school jerk. He goofs around, wants to be on the track team, and generally is as normal a guy as you could wish for. Of course, Phil's not exactly tops in his English class. In a clash of personalities, Philip tries to be lighthearted and silly when in the presence of Miss Narwin. Miss Narwin, on the other hand, is a truly dedicated teacher who tries as hard as she can to get her kids interested and serious in the great works of English literature. When Philip is disruptive and silly, she reacts strongly, trying to reach him. This all comes to a head when Miss Narwin is made Philip's homeroom teacher and asks him to remain silent (as per the school rules) during the daily playing of the Star Spangled Banner. Philip, who cannot try out for the track team due to his poor English grades, ups the ante by singing and continues to badger Miss Narwin until he finally ends up with a suspension. And all of this would remain in the closed sphere of a single public high school, were it not for the fact that the idea of a boy being suspended, "for singing the national anthem", is just the kind of hot topic the pundits love to play with. In the end, no one could predict the insanity that would result from a stupid boy just acting out.
The danger with a book like this is that it would be all too easy to strain credulity. I mean, the idea that America at large would get wrapped up in a debate as to whether or not a boy was "allowed" to sing the national anthem is a bit grandiose. Then again, high school has always been the symbolic battlefield, both in art and life, where real world conflicts are played on. Better still, Avi knows just exactly how to pull the strings on this puppy. Why does Phil's father push him to continue to act out in class? Because Mr. Malloy is being hounded at work and is feeling powerless personally (something he doesn't want Phil to feel). Why does the neighbor of the Malloys take such an interest in this topic? Because he's running for the school board and needs a hot button topic like this one to get elected. For every burst of press this story gets, Avi has a perfectly good reason for it in his back pocket. And I loved the characters in this story and how they reacted. If nothing else, Avi has a wonderful feel for the weaknesses of human beings. His villains are simply the kinds of people who hear the story they want to hear and proceed with willful ignorance, doing everything they can to avoid listening to the other side. I loved that the man running for the school board used Phil's act as a way to say that the school didn't need to receive additional funding for new computers since they weren't even patriotic. Beautiful.
The book is written in an engaging style as well. Part script, part play, the book's like a mature (and remarkably better written) version of "Regarding the Fountain" or (similarly well-written) Walter Dean Myers's, "Monster". It's as if you're reading a collection of transcripts and recorded diary entries meticulously pieced together by an interested unknown party. The result is a book that's as interesting to look through as it is to read.
"Nothing But the Truth" has one last element in its favor. It presents the number one best kicker of a last line ever put in a children or teen novel. Read the book and see if you agree with me. Read the book and see if you disagree with me. For crying out loud, just read the friggin' book. It'll a wonderful piece of subversive literature that every kid should be familiar with. Sweet sedition light.
Rating:
Summary: Zak's Review
Review: I thought it was good, but if I was the Princpal, I would send Phillip out of school because you have to be silent during the "Star Spangled Banner". I still enjoyed this book.
By Gabrielle
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